Can I get rid of this hideous thing sticking out of my primary? What work is needed? Then can I just get a plain inspection cover for it?

 

You have to pull the inner primary, pull the shaft, remove the bolted on shaft tube, block the hole that the shaft went through and then put it all back together again with the flat inspection cover.

 

Sounds like a fun project. I probably should change the original drive belt while I'm in there, it has 45000 miles on it. Can't wait for my service manual to get here. How do I block the hole?

 

If I had everything open, I'd throw in a new belt and primary chain. Also a new primary chain guide shoe. Also check the sprockets and pulleys for wear and replace as needed. Otherwise, I have found that I can safely run the rear belt to ten years or 85,000 miles, whichever comes first. Maybe it will go longer, but at some point it's not worth the worry to me.

 

Once you get the otter primary off, you will see that there is a tube that connects to the inner primary with one bolt. Remove that bolt and the tube that the shaft runs through will come loose but still be connected due to the shaft. You can either cut the shaft or pull the inner primary to remove it. You will need one of these to plug the whole inside.

 

Thanks UncleG. I "rescued" this bike and I'm restoring it. So the belt is from 1996, more than 10 years. Over the winter I'm going through the major wear items like the primary, forks, swing arm & wheel bearings, etc

 

Awesome, thanks for the part number- I'm going to accumulate all the parts before diving in. How about the plain inspection cover? Wide glide part?

 

I very much doubt the primary chain and sprockets will need replacing, doing that is borderline OCD......especially with only 45K......

I would do the belt and all the tranny/primary seals while I was in there though....use the new Carbon Fibre belt, you can tell which they are because they have no grooves on the outside.

 

Cool, so new belt. I'll just "look and feel" the chain to see how it is. What about the tensioner?

Are the seals easy to change? why mess with 'em if they're holding tight?

 

Just check your tensioner shoe for grooves.

Changing the seals is just good insurance. They are cheap and you never know what might happen to them during the disassembly/reassembly process.